Mini Muffins
by coldfusion9797
Summary: Damon attempts to bake some muffins and Stefan attempts to help him. Oneshot.


**AN: Damon's comment about sending Liz some mini muffins at the start of episode 4.18 prompted me to write this. I just thought it would be kinda funny if he actually followed through with it.**

It was the smell of baking that lead Stefan to the kitchen. It was unusual, they never used the kitchen, who on earth would be baking? And at this hour of the morning? Stefan stepped into the kitchen and was met by an unbelievable sight. It was Damon. Damon was baking.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked in bewilderment. Were those blue strawberries on the white apron Damon was wearing?

"Baking mini muffins," Damon answered as though it was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

"Uh-huh," was all Stefan could manage in reply.

"They're for Liz, you know, for finding my car."

"Right," Stefan said slowly, beginning to worry about Damon's state of mind.

"Some brother you are," Damon said cheerfully, "you were supposed to remind me."

"Um, sorry?" Stefan ventured.

"It's ok," Damon said pulling on a pair of oven mits, "they're done now." Damon leaned down and pulled the oven door open. He slid the trays out and a dejected look settled on his face.

"Damn," he said softly. He turned to Stefan, "that's the second batch and they're as bad as the last ones." Intrigued now, Stefan stepped forward to inspect the muffins more closely. They were kind of flat but they didn't look too bad.

"They're not that bad," Stefan supplied encouragingly.

"Yes they are," Damon said in dismay.

"No they're not, I'll bet they taste fine."

"Maybe you should try one," Damon suggested. Stefan took one of the muffins from the tray and failed to see the smirk on Damon's face before taking a bite. It was awful, bitter, and just plain yuck. Damon was right, they were bad. Unfortunately Stefan swallowed the disgusting cake and then looked at his brother to see him smiling.

"Bastard. You knew it was gonna taste like that," Stefan accused, hurling the rest of the once-bitten muffin at his evil brother. Damon dodged the flying muffin with ease.

"Maybe," Damon shrugged, a gleeful look in his eye. But Stefan wasn't really angry; he was intrigued more than anything. What could've gone so wrong?

"What'd you do wrong?" Stefan asked in an attempt to solve this mystery.

"Nothing," Damon replied huffily, "I followed the recipe exactly."

"Let me see," Stefan said, picking up the cook book. "Flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, egg...all seems like pretty standard stuff."

"How would you know?" Damon asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Lexi and I used to bake all the time."

"Oh," was Damon's reply. But Stefan didn't really take any notice as he'd spotted the offending condiment on the kitchen bench.

"How much baking soda did you use?" Stefan asked, struggling to hide his amusement.

"A teaspoon. Just like the recipe says," Damon answered with confidence.

"You sure that's right?" Stefan asked holding the book out so Damon could reread the recipe.

"Yes, look," Damon said pointing to the words on the page, "1 tsp baking powder. See?"

"Yeah, but you used baking _soda_," Stefan said, pointing Damon's mistake out to him.

"So? It's the same thing," Damon said assuredly.

"No, it isn't, you idiot," Stefan told his brother with a smile.

"Damn," Damon said, smiling sheepishly and submitting to Stefan's superior knowledge of baking.

"I could help you if you want..." Stefan said, taking pity on his culinary-challenged brother.

"Sure," Damon agreed, "grab an apron".

They worked together to measure another batch of ingredients and this time used baking powder, instead of baking soda. Now all Stefan had to do was mix them together. He used a wooden spoon to gently fold the ingredients together; these muffins were going to be great.

"Put you're back into it Stefan," Damon said tauntingly, "you're a vampire, give it a proper mix." And even though he knew it wasn't right, Stefan mixed faster, just to prove to Damon that he could.

xxx

It was the smell of baking that lead Caroline to the kitchen. It wasn't a smell she usually associated with the boarding house and curiosity got the better of her. Caroline stepped into the kitchen and was met by an unbelievable sight. It was Stefan and Damon. The Salvatore's were baking.

"What are you doing?" Were those matching aprons they were wearing? And was the flour on Damon's nose? Yes it was, and there was some on Stefan's cheek as well. Ok, so she had to admit that was pretty adorable, and a little evil, as neither of them had alerted the other to the fact.

"Baking mini muffins," they chimed in unison. Caroline looked at the mess spread across the kitchen bench, which included lots of flat muffins. And then she noticed the furious way Stefan was stirring the mixture. Well that explained the limp muffins.

"Stop, stop," she said to Stefan, gesturing for him to step away from the mixing bowl. "No wonder they're so flat, you can't mix muffin batter like that." Caroline took the bowl from Stefan and instructed him on how to fold the mixture so he wouldn't beat all the air out of it. When she was satisfied that he understood she handed it back. Stefan proceeded to fold the mixture like she'd showed him, throwing Damon an accusatory look.

"No point wasting these ones," Caroline said, while waiting to render further assistance should it be required. She picked up one of the limp muffins and took a bite. She'd already begun to chew before she noticed the matching smirks on the Salvatore's faces. And it didn't take her long to figure out what was so funny. The muffin was terrible. How was it even possible to make muffins this bad? Caroline looked frantically about her for a trash can to spit the offending mouthful into. And instead of helping her the evil brothers just laughed. Eventually she found it and spat the horrid cake out but it left a nasty taste in her mouth. Relieved to be rid of it, Caroline looked up to see matching grins on the brothers' faces.

"You assholes! You knew how horrible they were and you let me eat it! I should replace the sugar with salt and see how you like it," Caroline threatened.

"You could," Damon said still grinning in an infuriating way, "but that wouldn't be very nice to your Mum now would it?" Huh?

"My Mum? What's she got to do with this?"

"These muffins are for her," Damon shrugged, "you know, for tracking down my car." Wow, Caroline didn't think Damon had it in him to be this nice.

"Aww Damon, that's so sweet," she cooed, her vengeful thoughts being replaced by warm, fluffy ones of a super cute surprise for her Mum.

xxx

It was the smell of baked goods, and freshly brewed coffee, that lead Liz to the kitchen. It was thoughtful of Caroline to make her breakfast, sometimes the little things got lost amongst all this supernatural-apocalypse drama. Liz stepped into the kitchen and was met by an unbelievable sight. It _was_ Caroline, but with her were Damon and Stefan Salvatore. And they were being normal, or it would've been normal if they weren't vampires.

"Hi Mum," Caroline said with a smile, looking up from the table where she was setting four places.

"Hi honey," Liz replied with a small amount of trepidation, it was just so unusual to see Damon delicately slicing up strawberries. At the sound of Caroline's voice, Stefan turned from the bench where he was brewing the coffee, to face Liz.

"Morning Liz," he said chirpily, and then turned back to his task.

"Stefan," she nodded back in bewilderment.

"Liz," Damon said with a disconcertingly affectionate smile, as he wiped his hands on a tea towel. What was going on here? Liz felt liked she'd stepped into an alternate reality. Damon crossed the room to where she stood. He reached out and softly gripped her arms, then he leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek. No, it wasn't an alternate reality, it was a dream. He pulled back and fixed those blue, blue eyes on her.

"Thanks for finding my car Liz, I know you didn't have to." It took Liz a moment before she could form a response, she'd never been kissed by a vampire before, well apart from Caroline that was, and when she did, all she could come up with was, "you're welcome." Damon still had that smile on his lips as he took her hand and lead her to a chair. As if in a daze, Liz followed him and took a seat, watching the three vampires in her kitchen as they moved about smiling and pouring coffee and fetching napkins. It was a strangely surreal experience. When everything was ready they each took a seat at the small kitchen table.

"Let's tuck in," Caroline said enthusiastically, grabbing a muffin from the basket. Suddenly Liz was grateful to her daughter for breaking the awkwardness and bringing the situation back to reality. Liz took a blueberry muffin from the basket and took a bite, it was delicious.

"Where did you get these?" Liz asked, helping herself to a second muffin, they really were good.

"Damon baked them," Caroline supplied cheerfully and with pride, looking over at Damon. Wow, Liz hadn't expected that, it was a lot of effort for Damon to go to for her. It was a welcome change, someone taking the time to think of her. Her surprise must've showed on her face because Stefan let out a chuckle and Caroline grinned too.

"You really cooked these...for me?" Liz said to Damon and for some reason, just for a moment, she felt like a girl again.

"Of course," Damon said with a smirk and a wink, "nothing's too good for you Liz." Yep, Liz was right; today had definitely strayed into dream territory.

**AN: So this got a little out of control from what I first intended it to be. And yes, I admit it, I think I may have put a little Damon/Liz in there. But I just couldn't help it, they are one of my fav TVD ships. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
